Lawmakers to hear pitches on budget, legislation

Sunday

Dec 9, 2012 at 7:44 PM

The Volusia County Legislative Delegation will have fewer members when it meets this week for its only public hearing before the session in March, but there figures to be nothing scaled back about some of the issues its members will be asked to consider.

DEREK CATRONSTAFF WRITER

The Volusia County Legislative Delegation will have fewer members when it meets this week for its only public hearing before the session in March, but there figures to be nothing scaled back about some of the issues its members will be asked to consider. Questions about how public schools are funded, the taxes paid by online retailers and travel companies and the state's spending priorities are all expected to be raised when the delegation meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday at DeLand City Hall. The delegation includes just seven members now, following the redistricting process that left Volusia with parts of three Senate districts and four House districts, including three wholly contained within the county. The area had parts of four Senate districts and six House districts last year. New faces on the delegation include three freshman lawmakers: District 24 Rep. Travis Hutson, R-Elkton; District 25 Rep. Dave Hood, R-Daytona Beach Shores; and District 27 Rep. David Santiago, R-Deltona. District 8 Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, is new to the Senate after serving eight years in the House, and District 10 Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, is new to Volusia after his Seminole County-based district was redrawn to include Southwest Volusia. Only District 6 Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine and District 26 Rep. Dwayne Taylor, D-Daytona Beach — the only Democrat on the local delegation — are serving in basically the same capacity as last year. Santiago, a former Deltona city commissioner, got his first taste of the new job last week when the new legislative committees met for the first time in Tallahassee. He said he's looking forward to furthering his legislative education with his first local hearing. "I hope a lot of people come out and share their thoughts, so we can take them back to Tallahassee," he said. "There's a lot to learn, I can tell you that." The hearings generally provide an opportunity for representatives of local governments, colleges and nonprofit agencies to lobby their lawmakers in person about various legislative or funding issues. The meetings once had the feel of a shopping mall visit with Santa Claus, when speakers used to line up to beseech lawmakers for increased state funding for pet projects. Since the recession, speakers are more likely to ask lawmakers not to cut too deeply into their budgets. "People are realizing that it's still a challenged budget," Hukill said. "They know there's not going to be a lot of money for special projects." Instead of asking simply for more money, local school officials are pushing a plan that would change how state dollars are divvied among Florida's 67 school districts. The current funding formula includes a yearly cost-of-living adjustment — known as "district cost differential" — that Volusia Superintendent Margaret Smith said has cost Volusia schools $97 million and Flagler schools $20 million over the last 10 years. "We'll be asking them to support a change in the state funding formula," Smith said, "but recognizing they have to have some basis for that, we'll urge support for a study leading to a formula that would be more equitable." Taylor and Santiago both said they favor studying the fairness of the existing formula. "We have been seriously impacted, more than any other county," Taylor said. "It's definitely something that's strangled our ability to implement a lot of programs that would be beneficial in the classroom." The push also has been endorsed by the Volusia County Council and the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, both of which are also pushing for changes on the sales tax for Internet purchases. At issue in one case is the practice of online travel companies paying sales tax on the wholesale price of the rooms they book rather than the higher retail rate paid by the consumer. The other issue is a push for legislation requiring online retailers to collect sales tax, the way consumers are charged when they visit the brick-and-mortar retailers who pay property taxes and provide local jobs. "This is a fairness issue," said Jim Cameron, the chamber's vice president for government affairs. "We want to see a level playing field."